Lesson Ninety-Three : Tough Negotiations /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

Today’s reading begins with a new verb, accipit/accipiunt accepts/accept. We first see it in the imperative (an order) as Medus tells Albinus to accept ninety coins for a ring. Or none at all!

Earlier in the chapter we saw the word digitus finger. In today’s reading we see digitus medius and digitus quartus, which both appear in the margin with an illustration.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 58.

Now READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 108-124.

Satis est. See you again soon for the conclusion of Capitulum Octāvum.

Lesson Ninety-Two : Meī Digitī Vacuī Sunt /  by Anthony Gibbins

Savēte, sodālēs.

In today’s reading, Lydia laments that her fingers are entirely empty of rings. Medus complains to the shopkeeper, Albinus, that jewellery is bought cheaper elsewhere. We learn that nōnāgintā means ninety. And that satis means enough.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 54 (detail).

As you read, try to find the Latin phrases that mean:

in which (plural)

to this shopkeeper

too big

in other streets

in those shops

are bought for a small price

Now, READ Capitulum Ocatāvum, lines 83-107.

  • in which (plural) : in quibus

    to this shopkeeper : huic tabernāriō

    too big : nimis magnum

    in other streets : in aliīs viīs

    in those shops : in illīs tabernīs

    are bought for a small price : parvō pretiō emuntur

Satis est. See you again soon.

Lesson Ninety-One : That Ring /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

First, some notes from the margin.

hic ānulus = ānulus quī hīc est or this ring

ille ānulus = ānulus quī illíc est or that ring

tantus…quantus = tam magnus…quam or as big….as

There is a focus in today’s reading on both this and that.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 57.

And on the expression tantus…quantus. The final sentence introduces an interesting idiom : Tanta gemma ad tam parvum ānulum nōn convenit. See whether you can deduce its meaning. You’ll be able to check your understanding at the end.

Now READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 68-82.

  • So large a gem does not suit so small a ring.

Satis est. See you next time.

Lesson Ninety : Let's Go Shopping /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

In today’s reading we are going to meet some words and phrases that are specific to shopping. Let’s get started. The word pretium means price. Constat/constant means costs/cost.

Quot nummīs cōnstat ānulus? How many coins costs the ring? (nummīs is ablātīvus, ānulus is nōminātīvus)

Ānulus centum nummīs constat. The ring costs 100 coins. (centum nummīs is ablātīvus, ānulus is nōminātīvus)

Pretium ānulī est centum sēstertiī. The cost of the ring is 100 sesterces. (Pretium and centum sēstertiī are both nōminātīvus, ānulī is genetīvus)

Id magnum/parvum pretium est. It is a large/small price. (Id, magnum/parvum and pretium are all nōminātīvus)

A sēstertius is a small and silver Roman coin. The plural is sēstertiī. English sources often translate sēstertius as sesterce and sēstertiī as sesterces. The sesterce below depicts the face of Agrippina.

from Handy Latin Tables Pars Secunda

An ānulus gemmātus, as the margin tells us, is an ānulus cum gemmā. The adjective tantus is an abreviated form of tam magnus. And tam magnus means so large.

Finally, octōgintā means eighty.

Now READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 56-67.

Satis est. See you again soon.

Lesson Eighty-Nine : More of This and These /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

In today’s reading we continue to meet more forms of this, and its plural these. These forms are, in order of appearance, hōc, hae, hōs, hī, and hīs.

Now might be a good time to include a noun/adjective table that includes ALL the possible forms of this.

from Handy Latin Tables Pars Secunda

Below the noun/adjective pair for each Number (singular or plural), Gender (feminine, masculine or neuter) and Case combination (eg: Singular, Feminine, Nōminātīvus : īnsula magna) are the corresponding forms of he/she/it, this/these, that/those and who/which, as outlined in the diagram below.

Nōnne was first introduced in Lesson 74. Just as num placed at the beginning of a yes/no question shows that the speaker expects a ‘no’ answer, nōnne shows that the speaker expects a ‘yes’.

Vīgintī, as we are told in the margin, in the Latin word for XX or twenty.

Now READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 48-55.

Satis est. See you again shortly.

Lesson Eighty-Eight : Albīnus clāmat /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

Buckle in - there is quite a bit of new content introduced in today’s reading.

Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta defines haec taberna as taberna quae hīc est. Literally, this means the shop which is here, although we been thinking of haec taberna simply as this shop.

Similarly, the text defines illa taberna as taberna quae illīc est, or the tavern which is there. But, for our purpose, it might be easier to think of illa taberna as that shop.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that there are just as many forms of that as there are of this. We will meet them gradually. In today’s reading we will meet just two. The first is feminine accūsātīvus singulāris - Aspice illam tabernam! Look at that shop! The second is neuter nōminātīvus plūrālis - Ō, quam pulchra sunt illa ōrnāmenta! Oh, how beautiful are those pieces of jewellery!

What is quam doing in that sentence above? Hopefully a close examination of these two sentences will help you deduce its meaning:

Illa taberna non tam bona est quam haec taberna. That shop is not so good as this shop.

Ō, quam bona est haec taberna! Oh, how good is this shop! (Expressing excitement at how good it is).

Moving on, there are three new verbs in today’s reading. They are clāmat/clāmant, mōnstrat/monstrant and ostendit/ostendunt. The difference between mōnstrat/mōnstrant points out/point out and ostendit/ostendunt shows/show is quite subtle. I’ll leave you to deduce the meaning of clāmat/clāmant,

Lastly, as you are reading, try to deduce that Latin words that mean with (her) finger and to Lydia. I’ll provide an answer and a short explanation at the end.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 55.

Now, READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 36-47.

  • clāmat/clāmant : shouts/shout

  • with (her) finger : digitō (this is known as an ablātīvus of instrument. The ablātīvus is used without a preposition to indicate the ‘instrument’ used in an action. Lydia tabernam digitō mōnstrat. Lydia points out the shop with (her) finger.)

    to Lydia : Lydiae (this is the datīvus. In Capitulum Septimum the datīvus was used only with the verb dat/dant. But it can work in the exact same way with mōnstrat/mōnstrant and ostendit/ostendunt. Albīnus Lydiae margarītās ostendit. Albinus shows the pearls to Lydia.)

If you followed all of that, well done. Satis est! See you next time.

Lesson Eighty-Seven : Quī vir? Quae fēmina? Quod ōrnāmentum? /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

Not much to explain before today’s reading, but the Latin certainly is becoming more complex. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below which I will answer as quickly as possible.

Let’s begin with this lesson’s heading by comparing these three pairs of sentences. In each pair, the first sentence should be familiar to you, while the second offers something new :

Quis est vir quī in viā ambulat? Who is the man who is walking in the street. Quī vir in viā ambulat? Which man is walking in the street?

Quae est fēmina quae in viā ambulat? Who is the woman who is walking in the street? Quae fēmina in viā ambulat? Which woman is walking in the street?

Quid est ōrnāmentum quod in mensā est? What is the piece of jewellery that is on the table? Quod ōrnāmentum in mensā est? What piece of jewellery is on the table?

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 55 (detail).

The other word introduced in today’s reading is alius other or another. It appears here only in the accūsātīvus neuter describing ōrnāmentum : Lydia autem nūllum aliud ōrnāmentum habet. Lydia however has no other piece of jewellery.

Now READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 25-35.

Satis est. Until next time.

Lesson Eighty-Six : Collum Digitusque /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

So far we have learnt three body parts; nāsus, umerus and oculus. In today’s reading we will learn two more; collum and digitus, both illustrated in the margin.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 55.

There are two more new words; the adjective pecūniōsus and the verb ōrnat/ōrnant.

We are told what pecūniõsus means in the margin : Vir pecūniōsus est vir quī magnam pecuniam habet. Fēmina pecūniōsa est fēmina quae magnam pecuniam habet.

The verb ōrnat/ōrnant means decorates/decorate. In today’s reading you will see ōrnat/ōrnant in the active and passive.It is clearly linked to the noun ōrnāmentum.

Now READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 20-24.

Satis est. See you soon.

Lesson Eighty-Five : Big Money /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 55.

As mentioned in Lesson 84, we are gradually learning the different forms of this. Today we will see the ablātīvus singulāris of the feminine haec. See if you can determine what it is as you complete the reading.

The other new words are all verbs. They are cōnsistit/cōnsistunt, emit/emunt, aspicit/aspiciunt, abit/abeunt and accipit/accipiunt.

We are told that emit/emunt is the opposite of vēndit/vendunt, which we met in Lesson 84. Abit/abeunt was discussed in Lesson 81. It is the opposite of adit/adeunt. Try to deduced the remainder of the new verbs for yourself. Some are easier than others, so you may wish to check your understanding at the end.

Finally, let’s talk about big money. In Latin, you don’t say you have a lot of money, instead you say you have big money. Or, small money, if that is the case. For example, Iūlius magnam pecūniam habet. Dāvus, quī servus est, parvam pecūniam habet.

Now READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 11-19. I’ll provide a full translation of the final sentence, so that you can check your understanding.

  • cōnsistit/cōnsistunt : stops/stop

    emit/emunt : buys/buy

    aspicit/aspiciunt : looks at/look at

    abit/abeunt : goes away/go away

    accipit/accipiunt : receives/receive

  • Women whose husbands have a lot of money receive many pieces of jewellery from their husbands.

  • ablātīvus singulāris : hāc

Satis est. See you next time.

Lesson Eighty-Four : This and This and This /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

Welcome to Capitulum Octāvum. Let’s begin with the chapter title : Taberna Rōmāna.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 54.

The illustration at the chapter’s start is of a Roman taberna together with its tabernārius, Albīnus. Quid est tabernārius? Tabernārius est is quī tabernam habet. Albīnus tabernam habet. Itaque Albīnus tabernārius est. Or, to put it another way, Albīnus tabernārius est quia tabernam habet.

What does a tabernārius sell? Different tabernāriī sell different things. With that in mind, try to deduce the meaning of the word aliī as you read. And, for that matter, the meanings of vēndit/vendunt and ōrnāmentum.

There are a few other new nouns illustrated in the margin. Use the images to deduce the meanings of gemma, margarīta, ānulus and līnea.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 54.

One last thing. In Lesson 81 we saw three words for this, each one used to refer to a singlular subject in a particular gender. Here is a quick refresher:

Hic saccus est magnus. This sack is big. When describing a singular masculine subject.

Haec rosa est magna. This rose is big. When describing a singular feminine subject.

Hoc mālum est magnum. This apple is big. When describing a singular neuter subject.

But Latin is a language of changing word endings, so there are FAR more forms of this than the three listed above. We’ll be meeting them gradually, beginning with the accūsātīvus singulāris of the feminine haec. See if you can deduce what it is as you complete today’s reading, then check your understanding at the end.

Now, READ Capitulum Octāvum, lines 1-10.

  • aliī…aliī : some…some

    vēndit/vēndunt : sells/sell (think vending machine)

    ōrnāmentum : ornament/piece of jewellery

  • accūsātīvus singulāris : hanc

Satis est. See you shortly.

Lesson Eighty-Three : Familia Mostrifica /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

Today’s lesson is an entirely optional short story about a family of monsters. Familia Mostrifica uses the storyline, vocabulary and grammar of Capitulum Quintum and Capitulum Septimum to tell a story with a twist. Poor Muscus is upset when his sister teases him for having a beautiful nose!

Click on this link to open Familia Mostrifica in a new window. Click on the + in the top right corner of any picture to expand it. Now you can read the story using everything you have learnt..

by Anthony Gibbins

Satis est. See you soon.

Lesson Eighty-Two : Cui? /  by Anthony Gibbins

Savēte, sodālēs.

There is just one last thing we need to cover before we complete Capitulum Septimum, the question word and relative pronoun cui.

Mārcus rosam Iūliae dat. Cui rosam dat? Iūliae rosam dat. Marcus is giving a rose to Julia. Who is he giving a rose to? He is giving a rose to Julia.

Mārcus rosam Quīntō dat. Cui rosam dat? Quintō rosam dat. Marcus is giving a rose to Quintus. Who is he giving a rose to? He is giving a rose to Quintus.

Cui is datīvus singulāris and is the same for all three genders.

from Handy Latin Tables Pars Secunda. Donum, by the way, means gift.

Cui is also the datīvus singulāris relative pronoun.

Puella cui Mārcus rosam dat est Iūlia. The girl to whom Marcus is giving a rose is Julia.

Puer cui Mārcus rosam dat est Quintus. The boy to whom Marcus is giving a rose is Quintus.

The plurālis form of cui will be introduced in a future chapter.

Now READ Capitulum Septimum, lines 101-104. Congratulations! You have completed Capitulum Septimum.

Satis est. See you again soon.

Lesson Eighty-One : Exit /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

It is quite common for Latin verbs to take prefixes that refine their meaning. We have seen est/sunt become adest/adsunt, abest/absunt and inest/insunt. We have also seen venit/veniunt become advenit/adveniunt. It/eunt can also take a range of prefixes. Below you will see adit/adeunt goes to, abit/abeunt goes away and exit/exeunt goes out. In today’s reading we will meet exit/exeunt.

from Handy Latin Tables Pars Secunda

Today’s reading also introduces us to three forms of the word for this. These forms (Hic, haec and hoc) are used when referring to singular subjects of the three genders. More forms will the introduced in later chapters.

Hic saccus est magnus. This sack is big.When describing a singular masculine subject.

Haec rosa est magna. This rose is big. When describing a singular feminine subject.

Hoc mālum est magnum. This apple is big. When describing a singular neuter subject.

Finally, we meet the Datīvus Plūrālis for nouns that end in -a, and find that it is the same as for nouns that end in -us. Dominus māla ancillīs et servīs dat. The master gives apples to the enslaved women and to the enslaved men.

Now READ Capitulum Septimum, lines 80-100. Remember that eī means to her/to him/to it and eīs means to them. In line 84 eī refers to Julius. In line 96, eī refers to Julia. In line 99 eīs refers to the enslaved women, Syra and Delia.

Satis est. See you next time.

Lesson Eighty : Go! /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

Back in Lesson 62 we met the irregular verb it/eunt. It is similar to the English word go, expressing movement without specifying the method or manner. Mēdus ā villā Romam it. Medus is going from the villa to Rome.

In today’s reading we will meet the imperative of it/eunt. These are the forms you use to tell somebody to go. To tell one person to go we say ī. To tell more than one person to go we say īte.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 50.

Now READ Capitulum Septimum, lines 72-79.

Satis est. See you again soon.

Lesson Seventy-Nine : Run! /  by Anthony Gibbins

Savlēte, sodālēs.

Today we have a short lesson with a short reading. Let’s begin with the new verb currit/currunt, which is illustrated in the margin.

Fun fact : The imperative is named after the verb imperat/imperant order, which appears in today’s reading.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 50.

Now READ lines 64-71.

Satis est. See you soon!

Lesson Seventy-Eight : Datīvus Plūrālis /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

In Lesson 77 we met the datīvus, and we saw that words that end in -us take an -ō ending when they are datīvus. Mārcus est puer bonus. Iūlius mālum Mārcō, suō fīliō, dat. Marcus is a good boy. Julius gives an apple to Marcus, his son. You will notice that this is the same ending as the ablātīvus. We must use both morphology (word endings) and context when we read: Iūlia est cum Mārcō in hortō. Iūlia mālum Mārcō dat.

In today’s lesson, we will meet the datīvus plūrālis, as Julius gives pears to his sons fīliīs suīs and apples and pears to his enslaved men servīs suīs.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 50.

In Lesson 77 we saw that eī is a pronoun that means to him/to her/to it. In today’s lesson we meet eīs/iīs, which both mean to them. (You can use either).

Iūlius pirum servō dat. Iulius gives a pear to the enslaved man.

Iūlius pirum eī dat. Iulius gives him a pear.

Iūlius pira servīs dat. Iulius gives pears to the enslaved men.

Iūlius pira eīs/iīs dat. Iulius gives them pears.

We also learn that an ōsculum is a kiss.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 50.

In Lesson 77 we saw that nouns that end in -a - like Aemilia - end in -ae in the datīvus. We will see that in action in today’s lesson, when Julius returns Aemilia’s kiss. Iūlius Aemiliae ōsculum dat.

Two more things. We are told in the margin that sōlum means the same as tantum. And that neque…neque is the opposite of et…et. As you are reading, try to deduce the means of neque…neque and nōn sōlum…sed etiam.

Now, READ Capitulum Septimum, lines 51-63.

  • et…et : both… and

    neque…neque : neither…nor

    nōn tantum…sed etiam : not only…but also

    nōn sōlum… sed etiam : not only… but also

Satis est. See you next time.

Lesson Seventy-Seven : Introducing Datīvus /  by Anthony Gibbins

Savlēte, sodālēs.

Today’s lesson introduces a new case. The datīvus is sometimes referred to as the ‘to/for’ case, for reasons that will become clear over time. For now, know that the datīvus is named after a new verb, dat/dant gives/give.

In the example below, Miranda is giving a rose to Claudia. Miranda is the subject and so nōminātīvus. Rosam is the object and so accūsātīvus. She is giving the rose to Claudia, and so Claudiae is datīvus. You have probably noticed that the datīvus has an ending that you’ve seen elsewhere. We have to rely on context to tell us that Claudiae is, in fact, datīvus.

If we express the same idea with a passive verb - A rose is being given to Claudia by Miranda. - rosa now becomes the nōminātīvus subject and the prepositional phrase ā Mirandā tells us that Miranda is the agent (see Lesson Seventy). The rose is still being given to Claudia, so Claudiae remains datīvus.

Just be mindful that Miranda giving a rose to Claudia is quite different from Miranda walking to/towards Claudia and so only one uses the datīvus and the other a prepositional phrase.

Miranda rosam Claudiae dat.

Miranda ad Claudiam ambulat.

So now you know that -ae is the datīvus ending for nouns like Claudia that end in -a. In today’s reading you will meet the datīvus ending of words that end in -us, like Mārcus, fīlius suus and Quīntus. As you are reading, try to deduce that ending.

You will also meet eī, which can mean to him, to her or to it depending on context. In today’s reading eī refers to Quintus.

Now READ Capitulum Septimum, lines 45-50.

  • to Marcus : Mārcō

    to his son : fīliō suō

    to Quīntus : Quīntō

Satis est. Please free free to post any questions in the comments. We will remain focused on the datīvus in our next lesson. See you then.

Lesson Seventy-Six : Plēnus mālōrum /  by Anthony Gibbins

Savlēte, sodālēs.

Our first new word is the adjective plēnus. The margin tells us that it means the opposite of vacuus.

Our second new word in the verb inest/insunt, which simply means is inside/are inside. Below is a table that summarises everything we know about the verb est/sunt and its ‘friends’.

from Handy Latin Tables Pars Secunda

Our third new word is the noun mālum, not to be confused with the adjective malus. And yes, a mālum malum is indeed a bad apple.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 49.

Our fourth and final new word is hic, not to be confused with hīc. Hīc means here, whereas hic means this or the one that is here (with me). Your book explains this in Latin.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 49.

Before you move on to the reading, let’s think about the genetīvus (the ‘of’ case). To date, we have seen two uses of the ‘of’ case:

Iūlius est dominus multōrum servōrum.

Numerus servōrum est centum.

Today, we add a third:

Hic saccus plēnus mālōrum est. This sack is full of apples.

Now, READ Capitulum Sextum, lines 38-44.

Satis est. See you next time.

Lesson Seventy-Five : Ōstiārius /  by Anthony Gibbins

Salvēte, sodālēs.

There are two new words in today’s reading, the verb advenit/adveniunt and the noun ōstiārius.

The difference between venit/veniunt and advenit/adveniunt is best explained with an example.

Mārcus et Iūlia sunt in hortō. Mārcus Aemiliam vocat. Aemilia venit. Iūlia Iūlium vocat. Iūlius ad hortum advenit.

In truth, Aemilia advenit. and Iūlius ad hortum venit. are both perfectly good Latin sentences, but there is something pleasing about the sentences in the above example.

Ōstiārius is defined for us in the margin using only words which we have already met. I truely hope that you gain some satisfaction from learning the meaning of this new word without any recourse to another language.

from Lingua Latīna Per Sē Illustrāta, page 49.

Now READ Capitulum Septimum, lines 30-37.

Satis est. See you next time.

Lesson Seventy-Four : Nāsus Foedus /  by Anthony Gibbins

Savlēte, sodālēs.

In Lesson 73 we met the reflexive pronoun sē. Latin uses sē in a few places where English just assumes it. A good example is Iūlia sē vertit. Julia turns herself. In English we would just say Julia turns. or Julia turns around. Latin, however, is more precise on this occasion.

Immō is an interesting word. It is commonly used at the beginning of a sentence that contradicts what has come before it. Pay close attention to how it used in today’s reading.

The opposite of num is nōnne. Num is put at the beginning of a yes/no question to show the asker expects a ‘no’ reply. Nonne is put at the beginning of a yes/no question to show the asker expects a ‘yes’ reply. Nōnne Rōma in Italiā est.

A new verb, terget/tergent is introduced. Syra says to Julia, ‘Tergē oculōs!’ What might she be telling Julia to do? Terget, by the way, is the root word of ‘detergent’.

Lastly, we are introduced to the imperative forms of est/sunt. Of course, you are unlikely to just tell somebody to be. What is more likely is that you would tell them to be something. In the example below, a girl is telling these cats to be good. In the reading, what is Syra telling Julia to be?

Now READ Capitulum Septimum, lines 20-29.

  • terget/tergent : wipe clean/wipe dry/cleanse

Satis est. See you next time.